Air intake device in helmet

Abstract: In an air intake device (5) in a helmet, a housing (11) is moulded as one piece from a synthetic resin material and as an upper wall, a lower wall, a left end wall and a right end wall. First and second recesses (17, 18) are defined in the back surface of the upper wall and in the front surface of the lower wall, respectively, so as to communicate with each other to define a shutter chamber (21). Wind guide sleeves (19, 19) are formed on the lower wall which wind guide sleeves are opened and closed by a shutter plate (12) which is vertically accommodated in the shutter chamber (21). The housing (11) of the shutter as part of the air intake device (5) in the cap body (1) is formed of a single piece of a synthetic resin, thereby providing a simplified structure.

Description: The field of the present invention is air intake devices in helmets for use mainly by an occupant on a motorcycle or a racing car, and particularly, improvements in air intake devices in helmets, of a type having a shutter means mounted to a front surface of a cap body, the shutter means including a housing having a wind guide sleeve for permitting air to be introduced into an air duct in the cap body, and a shutter plate vertically movably accommodated in the housing for opening and closing the air duct. Such air intake devices in helmets are already known, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 89517/92. The shutter means of the prior art air intake device has its housing constructed of a base plate and a cover coupled to a front surface of the base plate, and a shutter chamber for accommodating the shutter plate is defined between the base plate and the cover. A housing constructed from two parts in this manner requires many fabrication steps, such as moulding the two parts and coupling them, resulting in an inevitable increase in cost. Accordingly, the present invention seeks to provide an inexpensive air intake device for a helmet, wherein the housing of the shutter means can be formed of a single piece. EP-A-0515752 describes an air intake device having the precharacterizing features of claim 1. According to the present invention the housing of the air intake device is moulded as one piece from a synthetic resin material; a first recess is provided in a back surface of the upper wall of the housing and a second recess is provided in a front surface of the lower wall, said first and second recesses cooperating with each other to define said shutter chamber; and the guide groove is provided on the lower wall, the guide claw projects from the back surface of the shutter plate, and the wind guide sleeve is mounted on the lower wall. In certain embodiments, the wind guide sleeve may comprise a plurality of wind guide sleeves which are laterally spaced from each other. With the above construction, the housing can be formed of a single piece, and the mounting of the shutter plate can be easily performed, leading to a reduced number of parts and to a facilitated assembling of the parts. This largely contributes to a reduction in cost of producing the shutter means. For a better understanding of the present invention, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig.1 is a perspective view of a helmet including an air intake device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Fig.2 is a front view of the air intake device with a shutter closed; Fig.3 is a front view of the air intake device with the shutter opened; Fig.4 is a sectional view taken along a line 4-4 in Fig.2; Fig.5 is a perspective sectional view taken along a line 5-5 in Fig.2; Fig.6 is an exploded forward perspective view of the air intake device; and Fig.7 is an exploded rearward perspective view of the air intake device. Referring first to Fig.1, a cap body 1 of a helmet is constructed into a full face type having a chin covering portion provided immediately below a window 2 opening on a front surface of the body, and includes a shield plate 3 for opening and closing the window 2. For the purpose of ventilating the inside of the cap body 1, an air intake device 5 according to this invention is provided immediately above the window 2. The air intake device 5 will be described with reference to Figs.2 to 7. As shown in Fig.6, a shallow recess 8 is defined in an outer surface of a shell 6 of the cap body 1 at a location immediately above the window 2, and a shutter means 10 of the air intake device 5 is disposed in the recess 8. A pair of air intake holes 9 and 9 are provided in the shell 6 at the recess 8, which holes are connected to air ducts 30 and 30 (see Fig.4) defined in the cap body 1. Each of the air intake holes 9 is of a laterally elongated elliptical shape. As shown in Figs.6 and 7, the shutter means 10 is comprised of a housing 11 and a shutter plate 12 accommodated in the housing 11. The housing 11 is formed as one piece from a synthetic resin material and comprises an upper wall 13 having a first recess 17 provided in a back surface thereof, a lower wall 14 having a second recess 18 provided in a front surface thereof, a left end wall 15 connecting left ends of the walls 13 and 14 to each other, and a right end wall 16 connecting right ends of the walls 13 and 14 to each other. A pair of left and right wind guide sleeves 19, 19 project from a back surface of the lower wall 14 so as to extend into the air intake holes 9, 9, respectively, in an assembled state and a pair of left and right mounting holes 20, 20 are provided adjacent outer sides of the wind guide sleeves 19, 19. As shown in Fig.5, the first and second recesses 17 and 18 communicate with each other and form a shutter chamber 21. The shutter plate 12 is liftably or vertically movably mounted in the shutter chamber 21 for opening and closing the front opened ends of the wind guide sleeves 19, 19. As shown in Fig.7, a guide groove 22 is provided in a laterally central portion of the lower wall 14 to extend vertically from an upper end of the lower wall 14 and is comprised of a wide groove portion 22a defined in the back surface of the wall 14, and a slit 22b running through a central portion of a bottom surface of the wide groove portion 22a. The shutter plate 12 may be made of a synthetic resin material. A guide claw 23 having a T-shaped section projects from a back surface of the shutter plate 12 to provide sliding engagement with the guide groove 22, and a knob 24 projects from a lateral central portion of a front surface of the shutter plate 12. The shutter plate 12 is adapted to open and close the front opened ends of the wind guide sleeves 19, 19 through vertical displacements thereof. A notch 13a is provided in a lower edge of the upper wall 13 for receiving the knob 24 when the shutter plate 12 is in a lifted position, and a projecting piece 12a is connected to or integrally formed at an upper edge of the shutter plate 12 for closing the notch 13a when the shutter plate 12 is in a lowered position. As shown in Figs.5 to 7, a pair of left and right small projections 25, 25 are formed on a bottom surface of the second recess 18, and two sets of notches 26, 26 are provided, each set comprising two notches, one above the other, on the back surface of the shutter plate 12, so that each small projection 25 is selectively brought into engagement with one of the notches 26, 26 of each associated set by the resilient force given to the shutter plate 12 in response to the lifting and lowering of the shutter plate 12. More specifically, the small projections 25 can be brought into engagement with the upper notches 26 in the lowered position of the shutter plate 12; with the lower notches 26 in a position of the shutter plate 12 intermediate between its upper and lower positions; and with a lower edge of the shutter plate 12 in the lifted position of the shutter plate 12, thus retaining the shutter plate 12 at predetermined positions. As shown in Figs.4 and 6, a mounting plate 28 for the mounting of the shutter means 10 is interposed between the shell 6 and a buffer liner 29 which together form the cap body 1. The mounting plate 28 includes a pair of left and right bosses 28a, 28a which protrude into the air intake holes 9, 9, respectively, upon assembly. The housing 11 is detachably mounted in the recess 8 in the cap body 1 by means of machine screws 27, 27 inserted through the mounting holes 20, 20 of the housing 11 and threadedly engaged into the bosses 28a, 28a, respectively. Through holes 31, 31 are provided in the mounting plate 28 so as to permit communication between the wind guide sleeves 19, 19 and the air ducts 30, 30. The operation of this embodiment will be described below. When assembling the shutter means 10, the shutter plate 12 is inserted from the first recess 17 into the shutter chamber 21 of the housing 11 while bringing the guide claw 23 on the shutter plate 12 into engagement with the guide groove 22 in the housing 11. In this process, the knob 24 is exposed to the outside of the notch 13a while flexing the upper wall 13 forwardly. In this manner, the mounting of the shutter plate 12 to the housing 11 in the shutter means 10 can be easily performed, notwithstanding that the housing 11 has been molded monolithically as one piece. The thus-assembled shutter means 10 is positioned in the recess 8 in the front surface of the cap body 1 and is connected to the mounting plate 28 by the machine screws 27, 27 and is thus secured to the cap body 1. The shutter means 10 is detachably mounted to the cap body 1 in this manner and hence can be removed from the cap body 1 at any time for washing with water. In using the helmet, if the knob 24 is manipulated and displaced vertically, the shutter plate 12 is moved vertically between the first and second recesses 17 and 18, while causing the guide claw 23 and the guide groove 22 to slide relative to each other, thereby opening and closing the wind guide sleeves 19, 19. In the lifted position (see Fig.3) of the shutter plate 12, the wind guide sleeves 19 are opened, so that air is introduced through the wind guide sleeves 19 into the air ducts 30 in the cap body 1 to ventilate the inside of the cap body 1. In the lowered position (see Fig. 2) of the shutter plate 12, the wind guide sleeves 19 are closed, so that the introduction of air into the air ducts 30 can be blocked. Although the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiment, it will be understood that it is not limited thereto, and various modifications and variations in design can be made without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the claims. For example, the body 1 may be constructed into a jet or open-face type.

Claims: An air intake device (5) in a helmet having a cap body (1), the air intake device (5) comprising: a shutter means (10) mounted to a front surface of the cap body (1), the shutter means (10) including: a housing (11) having a wind guide sleeve (19) for permitting air to be introduced into an air duct (30) in the cap body (1); a shutter plate (12) vertically movably accommodated in the housing (11) for opening and closing the air duct (30); and a shutter chamber (21) for accommodating the shutter plate (12); wherein said housing (11) has an upper wall (13), a lower wall (14), a left end wall (15) connecting left ends of said upper and lower walls (13, 14) to each other, and a right end wall (16) connecting right ends of the upper and lower end walls (13, 14) to each other; and wherein said wind guide sleeve (19) is opened and closed by a vertical movement of said shutter plate (12), a guide groove (22) being provided on the housing (11) and a guide claw (23) being provided on the shutter plate (12) and engaged with said guide groove (22) to guide the vertical movement of the shutter plate (12); characterized in that said housing (11) is moulded as one piece from a synthetic resin material; that a first recess (17) is provided in a back surface of the upper wall (13) of the housing (11) and a second recess (18) is provided in a front surface of the lower wall (14), said first and second recesses cooperating with each other to define said shutter chamber (21); and that said guide groove (22) is provided on the lower wall (14), said guide claw (23) projects from the back surface of the shutter plate (12), and the wind guide sleeve (19) is mounted on the lower wall (14). An air intake system according to claim 1, wherein said wind guide sleeve is provided as a plurality of wind guide sleeves which are laterally spaced from each other.

Inventors: TANIUCHI FUJIO, TANIUCHI, FUJIO
Applicants: SHOEI KAKO KK, SHOEI KAKO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1994
Main classification: A42B3
IPC codes: A42B3